Put jars and lids through dishwasher cycle or clean them thoroughly and boil to sanitize.

Boil water, vinegar and salt for about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile cut cukes into quarters lengthwise and trim length if necessary. You want the cukes below the shoulder of the jar so they will be completely covered by the liquid. If you have little tiny cukes, I bet you could just use them whole.

Smash garlic cloves with side of chef's knife -- remove skin and discard. Place a smashed garlic clove in the bottom of each jar.

Place a good sized sprig of dill in each jar.

Add pickles -- really shove them in and fill up as much of the jar as possible. Top each jar with another smashed garlic clove and more dill.

Pour hot vinegar mixture over cukes, filling jar almost to the top.

Screw lids on jars and let sit on the counter for 24-36 hours. Refrigerate and eat in 1-2 weeks.

There seem to be lots of pickling cucumbers at the farmer's markets right now, so I hope you find this recipe useful. And if you have a favorite pickle, I would love to hear about it!

Final note -- I mentioned the root beer that we made at the beginning of August. We tried it the week after we bottled it and it was flat and not so good. We let it sit in the refrigerator a couple more weeks and now it is fizzy and wonderful! Lesson learned -- be patient with carbonation using ale yeast. I'm planning on trying lemon lime soda or ginger ale later this week if time permits. I'll try to post more info on the whole soda making process then.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

How long has it been since you read Little Women by Louisa May Alcott? I hadn't read it since I was a little girl, but it was every bit as good -- maybe even better -- reading it as an adult.

So, what prompted me to read this book now, after all these years? It was Nancy Pearl. You've heard of Nancy Pearl, right? Of Book Lust fame? Well, I've started listening to her podcast and her love of books is truly infectious. A couple of months ago she interviewed Sherman Alexie and I ended up reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian and this past month she interviewed Geraldine Brooks, which got me started on this path.

While they were talking primarily about Ms. Brook's new historically based novel People of the Book (which also sounds excellent), they also touched on March. Now I had heard of this book, but never realized that it was the story of the father of the girls in Little Women. Cool concept. And the book is really well done -- interesting storyline, but rooted in history. The character of Mr. March is loosely based on Bronson Alcott -- Louisa May Alcott's father -- who was an abolitionist and friend of the likes of Thoreau and Emerson. Who knew?

If you are like me, and haven't read Little Women in ages (or heaven forbid -- have never read it!) pick it up and give it a try. Excellent summer reading if you ask me.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

I'm thinking the answer to that question is -- no. However, Pete mentioned that I have such a knack for finding it that maybe I should start selling it. Is this a hint? Hmmmm. . .

At any rate, I bought a box full of pyrex at an estate auction this morning. And that Fire King in the back -- well I got it for free! I lost a lot that included the Fire King piece and some old cookie cutters (along with other junk) and this other woman -- who had outbid me on several lots -- ran after me to ask what I wanted in the lot as she only wanted the cookie cutters. Wasn't that nice?!

I also won this pink metal cart ($8!) which is in excellent condition. Bambi -- an older lady who lived next door to us growing up and was, for all intents and purposes, our adopted grandma -- had a cart like this in her kitchen. I couldn't resist it and it does fit nicely in the corner of the office. Although I'm thinking it looks a bit cramped. I'll keep it there for a while and see how I feel in a couple days.

And I couldn't resist a box of Christmas stuff -- mostly glass ornaments. I did find these little cardboard houses -- Putz is what they are calling them on eBay. I know nothing about such things, but decided to list them on eBay in case anyone loves them and will give them a good home. Starting bid is only $.99. If they are your type of thing, the listing is here.

Monday, August 11, 2008

This is a project I've been wanting to tackle for ages -- but of course it didn't work out at all as I had planned. About a month ago I bought some awesome huge, old canning jars and I planned to make little terrariums in them -- one for me and one for Maddie. Never mind that my hand couldn't even fit in the mouth of the jar, or that I couldn't find plants small enough anywhere. I carried the list of supplies and plants with me optimistically for weeks -- visiting every "garden" center I could find. I ended up buying rocks for the bottom layer from Hobby Lobby (and needed a second bag which Pete graciously ran out in a downpour to acquire!) and never found horticultural charcoal -- I'm using fish tank filter charcoal instead. Sphagnum moss (used to keep the layers from leaking into one another) was nowhere to be found, so I cut pieces of tulle and used that instead. And finally . . .

gave up entirely on the jars and opted for an old fish tank that had been banished to the basement awaiting the next fish or a new purpose.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

We went to an estate auction this weekend -- not very far from where we live actually. It was so much fun to look at all of the lots and easy to get caught up in the excitement and bid on crazy stuff (none of which I won -- thankfully!). However, I did get to bring home these great buttons. There are definitely some bakelite and other early plastics in there. I pulled out some of my favorites on left.

And here's one of the other green things I mentioned. I actually won 2 of these for the bargain price of $5 -- for both! I moved all the drawers filled with nails and screws and other crazy stuff into one cabinet and gave it to Pete and kept this one for myself. I figured it would be perfect for little crafty things and it's quite sturdy, being made of enameled metal.

Saturday, August 09, 2008

Garage Sale Friday was not bad. The weather here was cooler than it has been recently and I found some pyrex -- which always makes me happy! This time it was the Green Crazy Daisy nesting Bowls and a glass pitcher to match.

After a morning of thrifting, Maddie & I stopped at the farmer's market and I picked up some nice veggies, including pickling cucumbers. (Which resulted in much craziness involving buying more canning jars and such.) Then I made up some dill pickles! I'm looking forward to trying them in a day or two as they are refrigerator pickles and should be ready fairly soon.

More green form today (a trip to an auction and one of my "crazy projects") but no photos yet, so more on that in a day or two. And if the pickles turn out well, I'll post the recipe.

Thursday, August 07, 2008

Well, a good portion of the backyard is now dirt and mud, but surprisingly it wasn't very noisy having all that concrete removed.

In fact, it was rather interesting watching them unearth the layers below the concrete. There were patios below patios and walls built on top of walls. You find crazy stuff when you start poking around in an old house.

This pile of sawdust is all that remains of the tree -- and those ugly yews were meant to go. The entrance into the backyard is really opened up now.

Now instead of a stone path to the backyard, we have a tractor path. I'm looking forward to seeing how this all comes together, because at this point it's really just a terrible mess!

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

I love little projects. This might explain why I love little looms. I stalk them on eBay but never seem to have any luck -- until this week, that is. I found this pretty catalin 4" Weave-It and hoped against hope that I would win the auction. I did and it arrived today all packaged up very nicely. I have heard that these catalin looms can be brittle, but I bought it to use it, so I'm giving it a try when I find a spare few minutes.